They put the crab in "Crabtown"

Courtesy of the Hampton History Museum

Taken about 1907 inside the picking room at the Coston crab plant on the downtown Hampton waterfront, this iconic image shows some of the thousands of black women who were employed by the town's seafood industry during its turn-of-the-century heydey.

Taken about 1907 inside the picking room at the Coston crab plant on the downtown Hampton waterfront, this iconic image shows some of the thousands of black women who were employed by the town's seafood industry during its turn-of-the-century heydey. (Courtesy of the Hampton History Museum)

Mark St. John Erickson, merickson@dailypress.com | 757-247-4783

Back when the crab and the oyster ruled the seafood town of Hampton, hundreds of local black men and women found jobs in the sprawling plants along the downtown waterfront, where they worked long hours shucking oysters and picking crabs for shipment by steamer up and down the East Coast.

In the mornings, especially, they'd crowd the streets as they walked to work, creating a kind of daily pilgrimage so thick with people that anyone going the other way would have to pick their way through.

Three ladies who worked at one of Hampton's most famous crab plants will gather at the Hampton History Museum at 7 p.m. Thursday to recall the very end of the era when seafood was king -- and when much of the town's life revolved around processing and shipping the day's catch.

Mary Tyson, Doris Green and Pearlie Brown will describe their years working for John Mallory Phillips, the self-made grandson of a free black waterman who helped create Hampton's burgeoning seafood industry in the decades after the Civil War. They'll also share some of the secrets of professional crab pickers.

In addition to hearing their personal stories, the audience will be encouraged to share their own memories and tale of the time when the once-bustling colonial port town found new life as "Crabtown."

The Hampton History Museum is located at 120 Old Hampton Lane in downtown Hampton, with plenty of free parking in the garage across from the museum.

Admission to "Our Story, Our Time" is free for museum members and $3 for non-members. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.